Page 262 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
Gritting her teeth through the pain, Alezya managed to get up, well aware she owed her survival to a baby dragon and her unborn child. Or perhaps the gods that had shunned her for so long were finally making it up to her.
“Let’s finish this,” she whispered to the young dragon.
Niiru let out a grunt and charged ahead, nearly invisible in the darkness. Alezya’s breathing was slow and uneven, but she’d never be grateful enough for how the pain slowly subsided, and a dull ache replaced the pain. She couldn’t believe she’d been nervous about this pregnancy; half-dragon babies were amazing.
She had been surprised that more of her father’s men hadn’t arrived to finish her off, but the tunnel now seemed empty, and she realized that while she fought, Kein had calmed down or flown off.
The mountain had stopped shaking like a localized earthquake, and things were much quieter. She and Niiru progressed quietly, wary of any incoming sound. The youngdragon was ready to attack at any second but stuck close to her, suspiciously inspecting every corner before Alezya reached it. Had they left? Or had her father lost men to Kein? Had Kein killed him? Still, Alezya proceeded cautiously, with a feeling this wasn’t over yet.
Suddenly, Niiru started growling, and right after that, her father stepped out of the shadows, an arrow pointed right at her.
They had arrived at the end of a tunnel, and she could see the wind and rain battering the opening right behind him. She guessed he had sent his men to distract Kein, because she could hear the dragon’s growls coming from somewhere else on the mountains, conveniently away from that one opening.
“There you are,” he hissed. “My traitor of a daughter.”
“And child of a coward,” Alezya hissed. “Hiding while others do your dirty work has always been your strong suit, Father.”
“I am no coward!” he barked. “I am a leader. And leaders don’t fight in the front like expendable pawns.”
“Is that what you told the men you sent to die?” she shot back. “Is that what you told the other clan chiefs you manipulated? Tell me, Father, where are those clan chiefs now? Hiding like cowards, like you? Or down there, on the battlefield, bleeding for a waryoustarted? A waryouwanted! How many more will you sacrifice to feed your greed? How many lives will you destroy while you cower in the shadows like the vain, spineless coward you are?”
His expression turned ice-cold, deadly, and filled with rage. At her feet, Niiru growled furiously in warning, and Darak’s eyes darted to the young dragon before going back to hers.
“...I should have smothered you the second you were born,” he seethed. “I should have slit your throat before you learned how to use that damn mouth. I should have disposed of you the same way I got rid of your useless mother. I should have known that damn witch would bring me nothing but trouble.”
Alezya froze. A sharp, suffocating weight settled in her chest.
“Why?” she asked, her voice tight with emotion. “Why did you even marry my mother? You didn’t love her.”
“That witch turned out to be useless,” he sneered. “Given her wretched clan, I thought she would at least be of some use to me. Show me how they avoided the dragon, teach me their secrets. But she never trusted me with anything. She was a disobedient, worthless, arrogant bitch who didn’t know her fucking place. She dared to talk back to me in front of my men! She tried to take my place, insult me! She thought she was so special because she came from that crazy clan of witches. She thought she was smarter than me. I tried to teach her her place quickly, but no, that insufferable bitch wouldn’t take it. I would have thrown her back to the pack of rabid mutts she belonged to if she hadn’t been pregnant with you! I had to suffer her cocky, know-it-all bitch mouth for months! I tried to endure her yapping, but she was an insufferable, pathetic excuse of a woman. I was merciful to even let her carry you! More than once, I thought that even a son wasn’t worth enduring her disobedience!”
“...So you killed her,” Alezya muttered. “Instead of letting my mom leave, you just killed her.”
“Of course I killed her!” he scoffed. “What else was I supposed to do with that useless wench? Her clan was hounding me about sending her back! There were rumors about me being violent, unfair, or such nonsense coming from those harpies! As if it wasn’t my right to discipline my disobedient bitch of a wife! Even other clans were pestering me, putting their noses in my clan as if she were some precious princess! All she was was a venomous snake, going around seducing men and poisoning minds! She would have taken my whole clan from me! Shestrutted around like some high-born empress when she was just a mouthy little slut who forgot her place!”
“You killed her because she spoke up,” Alezya hissed. “She wasn’t just fighting back, she was telling everyone about your abuse.”
A victorious, cruel smirk twisted his lips.
“She left me no choice,” he snarled. “She kept challenging me, and if she was so smart, she should have known better. It was almost too easy. She was so desperate to leave me, to go back to her clan, that in the end, she even agreed to leave without you. She died in one of those crevices, forgotten, with no one to listen to her stupid yapping anymore. When her clan came for her, I pretended she had gone and disappeared into the mountains. Everyone but her wretched fucking clan bought it. They ran their mouths incessantly instead of shutting up and moving on. They harassed me relentlessly, looking for their precious princess and dragging my name through the mud. What good was a clan of women, anyway? Always acting like they were so smart too. All I could see was a bunch of snakes spreading their poison and acting like they were men.”
“...So you killed the Lumiata,” Alezya choked out, her voice barely a whisper. “They didn’t just disappear. It was all you. You… You did this.”
The truth slammed into her like a blade to the gut.
So many times she had wondered why no one ever spoke of her mother’s people, why she couldn’t finally meet her mother’s relatives. She had dreamt of meeting them, often. Dreamt of a place where she belonged, where she could be accepted. That fateful day, when she had run with Lumie, she had prayed that, of all people, her daughter could find her way to her mother’s kin.
But there was no one to get to. They were gone, all of them. Not scattered, not missing, but dead. Slaughtered. Erased because her father couldn’t stand a woman defying him.
Her heart ached, thinking about all those women. They had tried to speak up for her mother, and her father had done exactly what he always did to those who dared to raise their voices: he silenced them.
He hadn’t just stolen her mother. He had stolen her history. Her people. Herfreedom. Alezya’s eyes burned with tears as, for the first time, she was hit with the reality of why her mom had named her so.
It had been her last wish, or a prayer.
“They had to disappear,” he shrugged. “They had all this witchcraft nonsense going on. They knew how to survive the dragon attacks and wouldn’t share their secrets. Those witches were all damned wenches, most likely plotting to bring clans to their downfall. They seduced men but wouldn’t bow to them, what kind of a woman is that? They’re better off dead. All the foolish rumors died after those witches were gone.”
“...Gods, you’re a coward.”
